Pharmaceuticals active compounds in the aquatic environment: a review

Pharmaceutical active substances utilised to treat human and animal diseases can launch into the environment through effluents from wastewater treatment plants and direct disposal of pharmaceutical compounds. Some of these compounds arrive in the environment as a parent compound or as active/inactive metabolites. Owing to their pharmacological action, their conceptions in the environment are significant, and thus this chapter reviews the understanding of the presence of pharmaceutical compounds in the environment

Pembangunan e-modul pembelajaran enjin diesel untuk kursus teknologi automotif

"Penyelidikan ini adalah untuk membangunkan satu reka bentuk e-modul pembelajaran pelajar kursus Teknologi Automotif di kolej vokasional. Tujuan penyelidikan ini adalah bagi mengenalpasti kesesuaian elemen yang digunakan dalam modul dan reka letak papan cerita yang dibangunkan. Penggunaan e-modul dalam modul vokasional ini dapat memudahkan pemahaman pelajar dan cemerlang di dalam pentaksiran kompetensi. Modul menggunakan Model ADDIE sebagai model dan prinsip pembangunan bahan multimedia serta prinsip hueristik kebolehgunaan bagi pembangunan modul interaktif ini. Proses pembangunan modul menggunakan perisian CourseLab, Audacity, Freemake Video Converter, GIMP yang merupakan antara perisian percuma dan perisian sumber terbuka. Hasil pembangunan modul diuji sebanyak dua kali ke atas seramai 30 orang pelajar Kursus Teknologi Automotif yang terlibat di dalam penyelidikan ini dan 7 orang pensyarah dari kolej vokasional dipilih sebagai responden kajian. Soal selidik digunakan sebagai instrumen oleh pengkaji dalam kajian ini. Set soal selidik ini terdiri dari tiga set iaitu untuk kesesuaian elemen modul, kesesuaian papan cerita dan pembangunan e-modul pembelajaran. Soalan-soalan yang dikemukakan pada ketiga-tiga set akan dijawab berdasarkan skala likert. Maklumat dan data yang diperoleh akan dianalisis dengan menggunakan Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). Kesimpulan daripada data dan maklumat yang diperolehi menunjukkan satu e-modul pembelajaran dapat dibangunkan dengan mempunyai aspek rekabentuk (skor min = 4.74), aspek persembahan (skor min = 4.67) dan aspek mesra pengguna (skor min = 4.69) yang dapat menarik minat belajar berdasarkan pada purata keseluruhan skor min.

Advanced methods for activated carbon from agriculture wastes; a comprehensive review

The rapid increase in various industries and the subsequent contamination of water bodies by heavy metals caused water stress circumstances globally. The adsorption is among the effective methods which is used for removing heavy metals from the water bodies. Moreover, the adsorption treatment of wastewater by activated carbon (AC) from bio-waste is getting recognition among researchers due to cost-effective. Therefore the current paper aimed to review the adsorption by activated carbon from agro waste, preparation method of AC and adsorption mechanism. The factors affecting the adsorption, adsorption isotherm and kinetics of adsorption were also reviewed. It is appeared from the reviewed papers that the AC from agro waste exhibited high efficiency in removing heavy metals from different wastewater. Moreover, the metal-adsorbed adsorbent desorption through dilute acids are HCl, HNO3, NaOH, KOH, H2SO4, NaNO3, EDTA and Na-citrate. Therefore, the suitable eluting chemicals to the adsorbent and adsorbate must be selected in order to enable maximum recovering percentage

Microbial fuel cell systems; developments, designs, efficiencies, and trends: A comparative study between the conventional and innovative systems

The microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has appeared in the late 20th century and received considerable attention over the last decade due to its multiple and unique potential in converting the substrates into electricity and valuable productions. Extensive efforts have been paid to improve the MFCs performance, leading to the publication of a massive amount of research that developed various aspects of these systems. Most of these improvements have focused on optimization parameters, which is currently inappropriate to provide an inno�vational developing vision for MFC systems. The convergent results in most of the previous conventional studies (12,643 studies according to the WOS database) have reduced the value of MFCs by drawing an incomplete image for the performance of the systems. Therefore, this paper aimed to provide a comprehensive comparison between the highly reliable studies that innovatively developed the MFC systems and the conventional MFCs studies. The current paper discusses the novel MFCs development history, designs, efficiency, and challenges compared to conventional MFCs. The discussion has displayed the high efficiency of the novel MFCs in removing over 90% of substrates and generating power of 800 mW m− 2 . The paper also analyzed the literature trends, history and suggested recommendations for future studies. This is the first paper highlighting the substantial differences between the innovative and conventional MFC systems, nominating it to be a vital reference for novel MFCs studies in the future

Bio-nanotechnology application in wastewater treatment

The nanoparticles have received high interest in the field of medicine and water purification, however, the nanomaterials produced by chemical and physical methods are considered hazardous, expensive, and leave behind harmful substances to the environment. This chapter aimed to focus on green-synthesized nanoparticles and their medical applications. Moreover, the chapter highlighted the applicability of the metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) in the inactivation of microbial cells due to their high surface and small particle size. Modifying nanomaterials produced by green-methods is safe, inexpensive, and easy. Therefore, the control and modification of nanoparticles and their properties were also discussed

Optimisation of tapioca peel powder as natural coagulant in removing chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, turbidity, colour, and suspended solids from leachate sample

Development of natural coagulant is trending these days, especially among the researchers and the practitioners in the water and wastewater treatment industry. In this study, a natural coagulant made from agro-waste of tapioca peel was developed, and its performance had been tested by applying it on the highly polluted wastewater; leachate. The tapioca peel powder (TPP) was extracted from the white flesh of the peel itself. After several processes, the next step was to sundry the solution, and grind the dried tapioca peel until it became a fine powder. A series of jar test was carried out to study the optimisation processes by considering the concentration of the solution, the coagulant dosage, and the pH of the wastewater. Based on the optimisation process, it was determined that TPP worked optimally at 1% concentration, 1,000 mg/L of dosage, and at pH 3 of leachate by removing out 40.3% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 18.2% of ammonia nitrogen, 85.7% of turbidity, 80.2% of colour, and 85.5% of suspended solids. Hence, it was denoted that TPP could perform satisfactorily at the right conditions with respective optimisation processes

Photodegradation of basic red 51 in hair dye greywater by zinc oxide nanoparticles using central composite design

The current work aimed to optimize the photocatalysis of Basic Red (BR51) in hair dye greywater (HDG) using zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) by response surface methodology (RSM). The independent factors included ZnO NPs dose (10–200 mg), pH (3–9) and BR51 (1–10 ppm). The photocatalysis efficiency of the ZnO NPs was determined based on the decolorization of BR51 and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction. The photocatalysis mechanism was investigated based on the ZnO NPs analyses by field emission scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray analysis (FESEM/EDX), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA/ DSC), atomic force microscope (AFM), and Raman spectroscopy. The optimal operating factors for the photocatalysis of BR51 were recorded at 131.56 mg of ZnO NPs, pH 3, and 7.47 ppm of BR51, where 72.18 vs. 70.93% of BR51 removal and 82.71 vs. 83.56% of COD removal were the observed and predicted results recorded with an R2 coefficient of 0.92. The independent variables exhibited a significant (p < 0.05) interaction with 95% of confidence level. FESEM and AFM analysis showed that the grain sizes of ZnO NPs were uniform before photodegradation but aggregated afterwards. FTIR analysis revealed the main functional groups of ZnO NPs that contributed to the removal process were –C–O, =C–H, C=C, –C–O–C, and OH. TGA revealed a mass loss and exothermic reaction due to desorption of the chemisorbed water. Raman spectroscopy indicated the crystal structure of ZnO for ZnO NPs (before) and the decrease in the crystalline quality for ZnO NPs (after). These findings indicated that ZnO NPs have a high potential for the photocatalysis of BR51 in HDG